The Taliban has shut down dozens of clinics in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan in the past few days, officials said, amid demands for special treatment for its fighters who control most of the embattled region. Dost Mohammad Nayab, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said authorities were talking to elders, asking them to intercede with the Taliban to allow the clinics to reopen.
"Hospitals are not places for politics and we are asking the Taliban to let our doctors and healthcare workers return," Nayab said. Only three clinics, including the provincial hospital, were operating after the Taliban shut down 46 of the 49 treatment centres in Uruzgan since Friday, Nayab said. The Taliban were asking for special treatment for their fighters, he said. "We have asked elders in the areas to talk to the Taliban to fix this problem," he said. Uruzgan, which abuts the Taliban heartlands of Kandahar and Helmand, has been under intense pressure from the insurgents for years and the defences of the provincial capital Tarin Kot were briefly overrun last year.